Thursday, May 02, 2024
Rain is posing a threat to the India-Pakistan Asia Cup match today at the Pallekele International Stadium in Kandy as the two Asian giants face each other in a One-Day International match after four years.
There was a time when a match between the arch-rivals had another level of charm. But there had been no bilateral series between the two teams for more than a decade due to the complex political relation between the two nations.
The only way the two sides can face off against each other is the ICC events and regional tournaments like the Asia Cup.
In their last meet in the 2022 T20 World Cup, Virat Kohli played a brilliant innings to bag the match as he made a prolific unbeaten 82 off 53 balls. But the last time they faced each other in an ODI match was in the 2019 World Cup when India won the match by 89 runs in the D/L method.
However, Pakistan have made their statement clear as they come into the match with a winning streak of four ODIs, which put them at the top of the ICC rankings.
Pakistan made a flying start to their Asia Cup journey with the thrashing of Nepal by 238 runs in their opening match of the tournament on Wednesday.
Going into today’s match, Pakistan should be more relaxed as they have no injuries in the squad and they would want to keep their winning combination against India.
India, on the other hand, have some concerns in their line-up, especially, in the middle order as both KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are unavailable due to injuries.
There was a time when Pakistan were best known for their bowling attack while India produced a lot of batting talents. But, with the Inclusion of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami, India have built a formidable bowling line-up while Pakistan have found themselves the likes of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, or even Iftikhar Ahmed who can rattle any bowling attack on any given day.
However, the long-awaited match could be washed away by heavy rainfall as weather forecast suggests. According to Accuweather, there is a 90 per cent chance of thunderstorms, putting the match under serious doubt.
India Squad
Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumraj, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (travelling reserve).
Pakistan Squad
Babar Azam (captain), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Haris, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir (travelling reserve).
